Salesforce.com bites bullet on need for more integration

July 24, 2006 from ComputerWorld - "Salesforce.com Inc. last week rolled out the latest version of its hosted software with added features that include a built-in link to SAP AG's ERP applications. The move is part of an effort by the customer relationship management vendor to address integration shortcomings cited by current and former users.

Several IT managers and corporate executives said that despite its continued momentum in the CRM market, Salesforce.com still faces the inherent limitation of selling a best-of-breed offering that doesn't easily connect with other business applications…

There will always be a debate over whether it's better to standardize on a single application platform or use best-of-breed systems, he noted. But he said that he's willing to accept the inherent problems of the latter approach. By using Salesforce.com's software, Kramer added, "we don't sacrifice on the technology that manages our biggest asset: our customer relationships."

In some cases, though, the lack of widespread integration offerings and the cost of running separate CRM and back-office systems have led users to defect from Salesforce.com.

"If I were to say one single reason for our change, it was that we needed tight integration," said Flora Sun, chief operating officer at Adina for Life Inc. in San Francisco. "We needed fully functional end-to-end processes."

180 View - "End-to-end processes" is today's mantra of the ERP systems, and it includes processes embedded in CRM. If Salesforce.com is to continue its leadership role in CRM, we think it will need to develop hooks to many other ERP systems.